Cooler Master has been in the PC cooling business for over a decade and currently offers thermal solutions for processors, video cards, chipsets, hard drives, memory and notebooks. I've tested their products for every single one of those categories I believe with the exception of CPU cooler. Today I'm looking to change that with this review of the Cooler Master Sphere.

The Sphere is an all-copper, quad heatpipe and fin CPU cooler shaped like, you guessed it, a ball. It comes with a single-speed radial fan built in, instead of the typical axial fan you find on most CPU coolers. The radial output of the fan helps to cool other components in the immediate vicinity of the CPU socket. This combination of round-shaped fins and radial output fan put the sphere into a fairly unique class of cooler.

The Sphere fits all Intel LGA775 and AMD K8 processors. The fan produces a mere 22dBA so it remains very quiet at just 2200rpm. Weight is on the heavy side at nearly 700 grams, no doubt a result of the all-copper construction. The black and white pattern retail box includes a cutout window to show off all that shiny copper.